


Bruises on our Skin

by mrsseizetheday



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26161648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsseizetheday/pseuds/mrsseizetheday
Summary: Soulmate AU -  Bruises and scars appear on your skin when your soulmate gets them. So why are you always covered in bruises in the summer holiday?
Relationships: Sirius Black/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 134





	Bruises on our Skin

You were glad that at least you didn’t share the pain of the bruises and scars that started to show on your collar bone. You didn’t know what problems your soulmate had but it seemed like it was a lot of them. When your soulmate gets a bruise or even a wound which will lead to a scar it will show on your skin also. Your Soulmate prevents yourself from showing a lot of skin, especially when it was too hot outside for the long sleeves you wore then. 

In the first years it didn’t matter so much until everybody started pointing out the obvious and were asking you questions you didn’t have an answer for. Each summer the bruises became more and more. You weren’t sure if it worked this way but before you started your first year in Hogwarts you wrote on your forearm ‘are you okay?’, but you never got an answer. Maybe the ink had to be under your skin to show on your other half. 

But when you were eleven you had other things to worry about: Finally starting your first year at Hogwarts! You couldn’t wait for all the cool things you could do with your wand and be able to spent so much time with other kids your age. You didn’t mind being an only child but you imagine it would be great to share some things with other kids. 

When you were asked which house you wanted to be put in, by your parents or other family members, you just shrugged and told them it wouldn’t matter. You were sure you’d have a blast. When you were about to enter the Hogwarts Express you noticed a girl standing by herself so you decided to start making friends right this moment and asked her if she wanted to share the train ride with you. 

She was almost as excited as you and told you that she was the only one of her family who showed signs of magic. She told you that she was befriended with Severus Snape and it didn’t took long for him to join you in the compartment. He was sure he’s be placed in Slytherin while you and the girl in front of you, Lily, were unsure. 

You were glad you were placed in the same house as Lily. Gryffindor would be your new home. 

“Weren’t you supposed to be in Slytherin?” you heard someone asking another new boy at the table. 

“Got a problem?” the young boy replied not showing any fear. 

“No,” the other one said and put a roll on his plate, took another and placed it on the plate of the boy he asked the question. You’d learn later that the two of them would start to annoy you and your classmates. They’d befriend the other boys next to them and would never back down from a fight. 

When all the excitement about entering Hogwarts had ended, you confined in Lily about the marks of your soulmate. She was astonished as it wasn’t always the case to see the soulmate marks so soon. She herself hadn’t seen anything on her body and was eager to see yours. 

While her friendship with Severus fell more and more apart yours grew stronger. You invited her over in the summer holidays when her sister became meaner and ignored her. You were happy to share your room with her and have pyjama parties for two weeks. So of course she saw the bruises that started to show as every summer. But this time there appeared also scars – nasty scars. 

You came up with many theories how your Soulmate had gotten them. You even started a game of who came up with the most ridiculous story. You even joked if he was a werewolf when the bruises started to show every new moon. When you didn’t want to go swimming because of the many colours your skin showed Lily pointed to your watercolours and told you to paint them over. 

“They are called watercolours for a reason. They would come up the second I’d enter the water,” you pointed out. 

“So what? Are we witches or not? I think I have this powder with me. I use to throw it on my ink so it’ll stay on my paper when Potter decides to stroll into the room as if he owned it and didn’t notice that he throw that juice on my essay again.” 

You giggled. “He does that sometimes,” you admitted. “But he and his friends aren’t so bad. Remus is pretty decent and he helps me studying sometimes. Maybe we should be nicer to them we could actually study together.” Lily just scoffed while you started to brush some yellow paint on your skin.

-x-

You were sitting by the black lake, your head in Lily’s lap while you were trying to study.

“Oh can you just shut it?” you suddenly exploded and the boys who were discussing something vividly next to you stopped and stared at you. 

“What’s your problem?” Sirius asked and came nearer to sit down next to you while accidently kicking your leg. His friends followed him but didn’t sit down. 

“Excuse me for being stressed because of the exams. I just want to study and you’re loud as hell. I can’t concentrate.” 

“I think you need to lose up a bit,” Sirius said. “Even Remus is taking a break. How about we get together tonight and relax? We’ll get some stuff to eat and drink.” He offered. 

You put your book away and rubbed your eyes. “Okay,” you said and surprised everyone including Lily. You were pretty stressed and you needed a night without studying. 

“Okay, common room, 8 o’clock,” he said and jumped to his feet. 

You were in the common room before eight, playing a round of chess (the muggle version as neither Lily or you had the wizard edition). When it was almost time to meet the boys, Remus appeared by their side. “We decided to meet in our dorm if that’s okay for you. It’s a bit crowded and we didn’t really want to explain where we got the things,” he explained. You nodded and followed him. Sirius, Peter and James were sitting on the floor. Pillows were on the floor for makeshift seats and many sweets and drinks were also shattered on the floor. You even spotted half a bottle of fire whiskey. 

“Oi, would you just shut it? Just wait for your soulmate,” Lily exclaimed after a rather nice evening. You really had fun – bot of you. 

“So, what if I think you are my soulmate, Evans?” he said and while Lily didn’t pick up on it you noticed that he’d turned serious. 

“Then I’d tell you, that you’re delusional. Here, I’ll proof you wrong and hopefully you’ll let me alone.” She got on her knees and bent forward, grabbed James arm and pinched him forcefully. 

“Are you mad, woman? Why didn’t you pinch yourself?” Potter exclaimed and rubbed the hurting spot. 

“Why should I suffer, just because your wishful thinking?” 

“Have you spotted marks yet?” Peter asked her curiously. 

“No.” Lily admitted. 

“See, so it wouldn’t proof anything,” James exclaimed. 

“What about you, have you seen some?” Remus asked you. 

“Yeah, I see them since I’m ten. But I don’t want to talk about it,” you answered quietly. 

Lily who’s just took a long sip of the whiskey laughed suddenly. “Oh, we’re joking that he’s a werewolf,” she laughed and both of you didn’t notice that the colour drained from the boys faces. “We’re coming up with the most ridiculous answers to explain the bruising covering her whole body.” 

“Lily, stop,” you said and grabbed her arm. You didn’t really want to discuss anything of your soulmate in front of others. It wasn’t their problem and you bet he didn’t want everybody to know about it. 

“You’re making fun of it?” James asked quietly, but serious. You felt like there was a spotlight shining on you. 

“Well, excuse me for trying to make sense out of it or trying to make fun of it. I didn’t know that I was only supposed to think about what an awful life my soulmate seems to have and how I can’t do anything to help. Thanks for the night, it was nice so far.” You stood up, taking your best friend with you and left the dorm. You didn’t notice that nobody wished you a good night. 

“I’m sorry,” Lily said, but you told her she had nothing to be sorry for. 

When you woke up the next morning and greeted Lily she didn’t answer. She sat on her bed and didn’t move. You sat down next to her and before you could ask she pointed to a little bruise on her arm – the position where she had pinched James to proof that he isn’t her soulmate. 

“It’s seems chilly outside, it won’t be weird for us to wear the sweaters,” you pointed out and for that day you didn’t talk about it until she climbed into the bed with you when you were supposed to sleep.

-x-

After the night in the boys dorm it became kind of awkward, especially with Remus. You didn’t study together anymore. You were surprised that Sirius were the only one still freely talking with you and so the two of you were walking on the grounds when you had a free period while your friends all had class.

“Hey, can we slow down?” you asked and put a hand on his arm. 

“Of course, are you okay?” he asked. 

“I don’t feel,” you stopped the sentence. And then you stopped everything because you fainted. It wasn’t long, because when you opened your eyes again you saw Sirius face in front of you. 

“There you are. How are you feeling?” 

“Not so good?” 

“Can you walk to the infirmary?” You told him you would try and together you made you way inside the castle – your arms linked and just taking a break once. 

Madam Pomfrey told you to sit on the bed. “Do you faint often?” she asked. You told her that this had been the first time, but you feel rather dizzy once a month. Just when you thought it couldn’t get more awkward, she asked if you’re sexually active. When you looked mortified at Sirius Madam Pomfrey paused. 

“Mister Black, what are you still doing here?” she asked surprised. “Go outside, wait there if you must. But give the poor girl some privacy.” 

He winked at you and walked outside. She examined you and gave you something to take when you were on your period so you wouldn’t feel dizzy anymore. She reminded you to drink more water in this time and you were excused. You were surprised to see Sirius still waiting in the hall, but he accompanied you to lunch without asking anything. But you noticed that there was a cup of water in front of you when you sat down.

-x-

Since you were thirteen you had a rather ugly scar just above your heart. It was a nasty scar and you didn’t want to think about how awful it had to be for your soulmate and why you both had that scar. Since the summer you often covered your skin in your paint. And today you had a feeling you needed to do this with this particular scar.

You were alone in your room so you took place in front of your mirror and while you looked over to the colours you felt the need to use just ink. You were aiming for the head of a wolf (maybe because the werewolf theory was stuck in your head?) but the more you painted it seemed more like the head of a dog. Never the less you were pleased with the outcome. You smiled when you took a last glance in the mirror before you got dressed to start your day. Somehow you felt lighter than before. 

That day you didn’t see much of Sirus who was in the library searching for something. Remus joined him, but it was still strange. The tension had left your little group over the last month and you were sitting together for dinner. You noticed how Sirius always seemed to refill your cup with water until you told him to stop it. Lily seemed to warm up to James and he was almost walking on clouds because of it. 

The topic of soulmates wasn’t mentioned anymore by any of you. 

“What are you doing tonight?” James asked. 

“We’ll meet up with the Hufflepuff girls, what about you?” you answered as Lilys mouth was still full of carrots. 

“I need to go to the library again,” Sirius said, but it didn’t matter to him that you all could see that he was munching potatoes. 

“What are you doing there? Planning a new prank? Should we be worried?” Lily asked when she had finally finished her vegetables. 

“It’s personal,” he just answered, but that didn’t really ease your worry about getting pranked. 

When you woke up the next day you didn’t feel any different other than feeling refreshed as it was Sunday and you could sleep in. You went to the bathroom and when you started to scrub the ink off your body, you haltered. Did you use Lilys powder? No, you were alone when you inked yourself. So why didn’t the paint fade away. Well the water turned black but the picture of the dog stayed on your skin. You scrubbed and scrubbed, but it still stayed there. 

You were confused but as you couldn’t do a thing you decided to end your shower. After getting dressed in a sweatshirt you made your way to the great hall where Lily was sitting with the boy gang and they were talking loudly. 

“Oh come on and show it, if you’re so proud of yourself,” you heard Lilys voice. 

“You know if you want to see a shirtless guy, you can always ask me. You know I won’t hesitate.” James eyebrows rose suggestively. 

“What’s going on?” you asked when you sat down next to Peter and grabbed a piece of toast. 

“Well Sirius here got a tattoo yesterday and although he tells us how awesome it is he won’t show it,” Lily explained. 

“How did you get a tattoo?” you asked confused and looked over to see Sirius smirking. While he started to tell something about how he got it you spotted black ink under his white dress shirt. Black Ink right above his heart. Black Ink that looked familiar. You leant over the table and knocked something over. While you heard Peter complain about his pants which were soaked now, you started to undo Sirius button. 

“You could at least ask,” he started but you didn’t react. You opened another button and lifted the white fabric. You were looking at a black dog. 

“Neat,” you heard someone say. 

“I know this painting style,” the voice of a girl was heard. Probably Lily, but it was as if you stood in a fog. You couldn’t hear or see anything other than that black dog in front of you. 

“This isn’t.... This...” you started, but you didn’t know how you should finish that sentence. 

You heard Sirius saying your name. His grin has left his face as he saw your shocked one. “It's just a tattoo,” his voice came through to the fog. You turned around, almost falling over the bench and walked away. You heard the voices of your friends behind you asking if you’re okay. 

“Sirius, how did you choose this motive?” Lily asked while Peter was still busy to dry his pants. 

“Well, you know...,” Sirius blushed a little. “It just appeared yesterday morning. And I liked it so much I searched for a way how it could stay there.” 

“Did that happen often?” the red head asked further. 

“One summer,” James started. 

“you were covers in sunflowers?” finished Lily. 

“How do you know that? Did you tell her?” Sirius was glowering at his best friend. James threw his hands up in defence. 

“And was there a scar before that ink?” Lily questioned again. 

“Yeah, how do you know all about this?” Sirius asked confused while Remus had put the puzzle pieces together. 

“Because your soulmate has just left the room,” Lily concluded. 

“What?” were heard from three different mouths. 

Lily said they should all search for you, but Sirius said he had a feeling he’s know where you’d be and James gave him a blank piece of paper. Sirius took it and walked away.

-x-

“There you are,” you heard Sirius voice behind you. There weren’t many people outside as it was the end of autumn so you had decided to go for a walk.

You had almost reached the Whomping Willow when you decided it was far enough. As you hadn’t planned to walk outside you didn’t have a jacket with you and the wind was blowing. You shivered but you didn’t want to go back inside to talk about what you had just found out. 

“I grabbed you a blanket,” you heard Sirius voice again. 

“I’m actually quiet shocked that we’re soulmates. We all thought that Moony was yours.” The boy sat down next to you, facing the trees and the castle like you. 

“Why Remus?” you asked and he just shrugged. 

There wasn’t anything said for a few minutes. “I don’t know what to say. I never knew what I should say when I imagined meeting my soulmate. I can’t even imagine.. It must have been horrible... Merlin, what have you gone through,” you finally said and put your fingers above his hand. 

“I don’t really want to talk about it, if that’s okay for you. At least for now,” he said. 

“Of course. How about we start as friends and if you want to talk about it, I’m here?” He smiled at you and nodded. 

“So, you like to paint?” he asked and so you started to learn more about each other with your fingers still touching his.


End file.
